Hardware News Archives


2,112 Hardware open-source and Linux related news articles on Phoronix since 2006.

Necunos Mobile: A New Open-Source Linux Phone With KDE Plasma Mobile
Necunos Mobile: A New Open-Source Linux Phone With KDE Plasma Mobile

Most of those wanting an open-source, GNU/Linux-based smartphone have been looking forward to Purism's Librem 5 that will hopefully be shipping in 2019. But now a new option appears to be jumping on the scene: the Necunos Mobile developed by Necuno Solutions in cooperation with the KDE camp.

29 November 2018 - Necunos Mobile - 28 Comments
POWER On-Chip Controller Driver Coming For Linux 4.21
POWER On-Chip Controller Driver Coming For Linux 4.21

The IBM POWER On-Chip Controller (OCC) driver is queued for inclusion in the next version of the Linux kernel. This on-chip controller driver collects sensor data from the system and processor, including temperature and power metrics, and exposes that to the user as well as handling thermal/power management tasks.

10 November 2018 - POWER OCC Driver - 3 Comments
Hands On With The Most Open-Source, High-Performance System For 2018
Hands On With The Most Open-Source, High-Performance System For 2018

While there are several vendors working on open-source hardware systems with goals of fully open designs and open-source software down to the firmware, there is only one vendor that has achieved that mission while delivering server/workstation class performance as we approach the end of 2018... Raptor Computing Systems' Talos II. We finally have this dual POWER9 system in our labs for some interesting benchmarks ahead.

5 November 2018 - Talos II - 31 Comments
Apple's New Hardware With The T2 Security Chip Will Currently Block Linux From Booting
Apple's New Hardware With The T2 Security Chip Will Currently Block Linux From Booting

Apple's MacBook Pro laptops have become increasingly unfriendly with Linux in recent years while their Mac Mini computers have generally continued working out okay with most Linux distributions due to not having to worry about multiple GPUs, keyboards/touchpads, and other Apple hardware that often proves problematic with the Linux kernel. But now with the latest Mac Mini systems employing Apple's T2 security chip, they took are likely to crush any Linux dreams.

5 November 2018 - T2 Security - 65 Comments
PCI Peer-To-Peer Support Merged For Linux 4.20~5.0

The recently covered PCI peer-to-peer memory support for the Linux kernel has indeed landed for the 4.20~5.0 kernel cycle. This is about PCI Express devices supporting peer-to-peer DMA that can bypass the system memory and processor via a standardized interface.

24 October 2018 - Peer-To-Peer Memory - 11 Comments
The Next Linux Kernel Will Further Fend Off Buggy EFI Firmware

The EFI support code within the mainline Linux kernel continues to be improved upon. While EFI firmware has matured in the past few years to become more reliable, there still are systems/motherboards shipping with various bugs. One of the additions for this next kernel release will better handle rare cases where buggy firmware could hang the kernel.

24 October 2018 - Prevents Kernel Hangs - 5 Comments
LG Gram Laptops To Be Better Supported By The Next Linux Kernel
LG Gram Laptops To Be Better Supported By The Next Linux Kernel

While LG isn't often thought of as a laptop manufacturer, their Gram laptop line-up has recently been making some waves. The LG Gram laptops are powered by Intel Core CPUs and are designed to be slim and sleek yet durable. With the next Linux kernel (4.20~5.0), they should be better supported should you want to wipe the default Microsoft Windows installation.

19 October 2018 - LG Gram - 5 Comments
New Details On System76's Open-Source Hardware Plans Come To Light
New Details On System76's Open-Source Hardware Plans Come To Light

Longtime Ubuntu/Linux PC vendor System76 has been teasing their efforts around an "open-source computer" and other open-source hardware efforts now that they are in the home stretch of setting up their own US-based manufacturing facility. Some new details on their initial aspirations are now out there.

17 October 2018 - Daughter Board - 18 Comments
Fedora Wants To Know If Linux Hibernation Works For You
Fedora Wants To Know If Linux Hibernation Works For You

Linux hibernation and suspend/resume works much better in recent years than a decade ago, certainly, but that isn't without some bugs still persisting either due to quirky hardware or the occasional kernel/software issues as well. Fedora developers are interested in hearing about your current system hibernation experience.

3 October 2018 - Fedora Hibernation - 57 Comments
Creative Sound Blaster ZxR Finally Seeing Linux Support
Creative Sound Blaster ZxR Finally Seeing Linux Support

After getting the Linux support squared away for Creative's Sound BlasterX AE-5 and Sound Blaster Recon3D, Connor McAdams latest challenge was getting the Sound Blaster ZxR support working on Linux. Overnight a set of 11 patches were sent out to get this ZxR sound card working on the mainline Linux kernel.

30 September 2018 - Sound Blaster ZxR - Add A Comment
BLK-MQ To Support Runtime Power Management With Linux 4.20~5.0
BLK-MQ To Support Runtime Power Management With Linux 4.20~5.0

The Linux mult-queue block I/O layer (blk-mq) has been working out well for delivering very fast performance particularly for modern NVMe solid-state storage and SCSI drives. But it turns out run-time power management hasn't been in use when blk-mq is active.

27 September 2018 - BLK-MQ Runtime Power Management - Add A Comment
Purism Announces The "Librem Key"
Purism Announces The "Librem Key"

Remember back in May when Purism partnered up with Nitrokey as they wanted to work on a USB-based PGP SmartCard? They have now announced the Librem Key as a result of that work.

20 September 2018 - Purism Librem Key - 16 Comments
Linux 4.19 Is Looking Good So Far, At Least On Intel Xeons

This weekend I decided to fire up the current Linux 4.19 development kernel on the dual Intel Xeon Gold 6138 test platform based on the wonderful Tyan GT24E-B7106. At least for this system, it's really benefiting from the new kernel that will be released as stable in October.

10 September 2018 - Linux 4.19 Early Tests - 3 Comments
You Can Now Tell Linux At Boot-Time If You Don't Trust Your CPU Random Number Generator
You Can Now Tell Linux At Boot-Time If You Don't Trust Your CPU Random Number Generator

Covered on Phoronix back during the Linux 4.19 kernel merge window was the new option for distribution vendors or those compiling their own Linux kernel to decide whether you trust the CPU's random number generator. That compile-time functionality has now been re-worked to allow for a boot-time option so users can more easily indicate whether they trust their own processor's RNG.

9 September 2018 - CPU RNG - 17 Comments

2112 Hardware news articles published on Phoronix.